Later that night, Vinyl paced outside Octavia's apartment, fiddling with the buttons on her little blue vest. She'd arrived early, afraid she'd get distracted and somehow miss the time of their date. Lyra would have laughed, maybe cracked a joke about her peeping on Octavia, and told her to calm down; but Lyra wasn't there. She hadn't been there all day. She was probably eating chocolate with Bon Bon. Or maybe she was tied up and being held captive in a basement somewhere and Vinyl just hadn't received the ransom note yet.
Suddenly, the door opened, interrupting these disturbing thoughts and making Vinyl jump. She spun around, calling her magic to her uplifted hand.
Octavia raised an eyebrow playfully. “Surely I'm not that much of a threat,” she said, extending two fingers and gently sliding Vinyl's glowing hand out of the way.
Vinyl blushed, and she dropped her hand and cancelled the magic. “No, no, you're not a threat,” she said. “Unless you tried killing with your looks, that is.”
As soon as that left her mouth, Vinyl knew it was too late. That had come out so very, very wrong. She was very good at opening her mouth and saying stupid things. Quickly, Vinyl tried for damage control. “Because you’re really good looking.”
Octavia blinked.
Vinyl was even better at digging herself deeper. “That sounded much better in my head, I promise,” Vinyl managed to stammer.
Luckily, Octavia cracked a smile and chuckled. “You're sweet,” she said. “Shall we go?”
Vinyl tried to not show her relief. Crisis averted. “We shall.”
* * *
Vinyl paid, of course. She had ordered a mint chocolate chip in a cup, while Octavia had ordered a refined turtle ice cream in a waffle cone. They sat down against the wall on one of the higher tables, just like Vinyl liked it. She kindof liked being a bit elevated and able to see what was going on around her.
Yet two bites in and she suddenly became much more interested with what was in front of her. Octavia had not picked up her spoon, but had instead elected to lick her ice cream. And lick, and lick. She rotated the cone and extended her tongue, making sure she got every last melting drop.
Vinyl looked down into her cup and glared. She was doing that on purpose.
But wait. Something suddenly occurred to Vinyl. If Octavia was doing it on purpose, that meant she didn't mind Vinyl watching. She looked up and watched as Octavia continued licking.
As the licking continued, Vinyl clenched her legs together and was suddenly grateful she had decided to go with jeans instead of a skirt tonight. She cleared her throat. “So, music,” she started. Lame, yes; but she needed something to break herself free from the hypnotic actions of Octavia.
“Indeed,” Octavia said. “Music is everywhere; you just have to be looking for it.”
“I like that mentality,” Vinyl agreed. “But I like music a lot, so… yeah.”
There was a pause. Dates like this could be awkward. This is why Vinyl never had much luck on…
Wait.
Something else occurred to Vinyl, but this thought was a little less pleasant. “This… is a date, right?” Vinyl asked for confirmation.
“Of course,” Octavia said slowly.
“So you're… you know…?” Vinyl was unable to bring herself to say the word. That one word that could validate all her fantasies and bring all her dreams one step closer to reality. She settled for tapping her knuckles together and hoping she understood the wordless motion.
Octavia's lips curled into a playful half-smile. “I wouldn't have agreed to come on a date with another mare if I were completely straight, Vinyl.”
Vinyl slowly exhaled. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath as she had waited for her response. Of course, that then required another uncomfortable question. “Then does that mean you're… you know… cheating?”
The playfulness of the smile faded; it grew wry and almost wistful. “Cheating would require there be a relationship in the first place. What my... 'significant other' and I have is more… convenient than anything else.”
“Then why are you still with… uh… that guy?” Vinyl just managed to avoid saying the insult that had sprung to mind. It wasn't right to appear too jealous. Even if he did get to be there every night when Octavia would do what every mare did and remove her bra to let herself breathe-
Vinyl quickly pinched herself on the thigh. It only somewhat worked, as the denim was relatively thick, but it helped refocus her a bit.
Octavia shrugged. “He was the first one to ask me out,” she said simply.
Vinyl frowned. Was it really that easy to get a girl? Just roll right up and ask? She couldn't help but feel oddly deceived. She stuck her spoon into the ice cream as though it were its fault that she couldn't work up the courage to just ask girls things.
Octavia shrugged as she continued. “He started out nice enough, and he liked music as well, and then it just became something that was there. I guess that's just how it's been for so long that I've never thought that much about it.”
Vinyl chewed on her plastic spoon. Girls were so complicated sometimes.
And then it occurred to her that she was also a girl, and she was also plenty complicated herself; and she cracked up laughing.
Octavia thought she was laughing at her, and narrowed an eye. “I don't suppose you have better relationships to talk about?”
Vinyl grinned sheepishly. “I've had one good relationship, and it must not have been that great because we broke up when we realized it wasn't right for either of us.”
“I'm sorry,” Octavia said softly.
“It was a mutual decision,” Vinyl said quickly. “Besides, we're still friends.”
Octavia smiled and took another lick of her ice cream. “You're a good person, Vinyl. I'm glad we met.”
That simple praise made Vinyl feel wonderfully light and a wide smile spread across her face. She didn't even mind when she dropped her ice cream and bit nothing but the plastic spoon.
* * *
Their ice cream eaten, Vinyl walked Octavia back to her apartment, even up all the stairs. It just seemed right.
And it totally wasn’t because she let Octavia go first and got a front-row seat to view Octavia’s… well… hindquarters.
As they reached her door, they looked at each other. Vinyl licked her lips. Octavia smiled, waiting. There was a pause. Now, in movies, this would be the perfect opportunity to kiss her, or ask her for another date, or even ask her to marry her-
No. Too far, too quickly. Vinyl shook her head. Maybe she could do the second option. “We should do this again,” she said.
“We should,” Octavia agreed.
There was another pause, this one longer. Vinyl jammed her hands into her pockets, and Octavia twirled a piece of her hair around her fingers.
Finally, Octavia stopped and withdrew her keys, looking oddly disappointed. “Well, good night, then…”
“Can I hug you?” Vinyl blurted.
Octavia smiled and spread her arms. “You may.”
Vinyl wrapped her arms around Octavia and held her tightly. She could feel Octavia's warmth, she could feel her gentle breathing, and she really enjoyed feeling her much larger chest pressing against her own. Vinyl rested her head against Octavia's neck and just breathed as Octavia reached a hand up and rested it against Vinyl's hair. It was perfect.
It wasn't until Octavia moved her hand slightly that it suddenly occurred to Vinyl that she had lost track of time. She jumped back, blushing. “I- I'm sorry, I don't know… I mean, I knew; but I didn't mean…”
Octavia giggled. “You're fine, Vinyl.” She opened her door, but turned back to give her another smile. “I enjoyed tonight.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Octavia went inside her apartment, and Vinyl turned and walked away down the street. As soon as she thought she was out of sight of Octavia, she threw her back against the wall and groaned in defeat. She hit the back of her head against the brick repeatedly. Wow. She really was smooth, wasn't she? Octavia was probably creeped out, especially since that had only been their first date, and…
And then it occurred to her that Octavia hadn't pulled away, and a slow smile spread across her face.
She nearly skipped all the way home.
* * *
The club owner grinned as he counted out Vinyl's share, which was a lot larger than usual. “I gotta say, you were on fire out there!” he said emphatically. “I've never seen you so pumped! You had everyone dancing and this place was packed!”
DJ Pon-3 grinned as she pocketed the money. “What can I say? I was just in a really, really good mood tonight.”
“Well, whatever you did, I hope you do it again,” he said, clearly imagining his own larger stack of bits.
Vinyl cracked a smile. “Heh. Yeah. So do I.”